After trying to dissolve Congress on Wednesday and intervene in the Judiciary, President Pedro Castillo was dismissed and arrested, and this Thursday a court is studying whether to keep the former president imprisoned, at least for the next seven days, as requested by the Prosecutor's Office, which accused of the crime of rebellion, which could entail a sentence of twenty years in prison. Meanwhile, the police searched the premises of the Government Palace.
To this end, Castillo appeared today at a hearing, which was broadcast telematically in the open, where he did not utter a word. In his place, his lawyer, the former prime minister, Aníbal Torres, argued in his defense that "the simple declaration of dissolving congress does not configure any of the crimes charged."
The former president has been held since Wednesday night in the General Directorate of Special Operations of the police (Diroes), in the Peruvian capital, which houses a special penitentiary center, where the autocratic ex-president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) is also located. .
Castillo was transferred to the Diroes handcuffed and by helicopter, after being detained by his escorts, who took him to the police headquarters in Lima when he tried to reach the Mexican embassy in Lima after requesting asylum from the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel. López Obrador, who this Thursday positioned himself in favor of the ousted president.
"Since he won, he was the victim of harassment, confrontation, his adversaries did not accept that he governed," said López Obrador. “They were weakening him until they managed to remove him; It is the decision that these elites made, I do not think it is the best for the people, I am very sorry for the people of Peru, ”added the Mexican leader, after confirming that he had received the asylum request from Castillo, before being stopped.
Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in as president before Congress the same Wednesday, after the legislature dismissed Castillo by a large majority. In her first speech, the first woman to preside over Peru promised to "remove" corruption from the State, asked the deputies for time to organize their Executive and assured that she intends to govern until July 2026, when the five-year term of office expires. the one who was chosen in 2021 along with Castillo.
“I am not going to ask, nor could I, that they not audit my government, nor that the decisions that will have to be made are not scrutinized. What I am requesting is a term, valuable time to rescue our country from corruption and misrule,” Boluarte said before the plenary session of Congress. “I have seen with revulsion how the press and judicial bodies have reported shameful acts of robbery against the money of all Peruvians; this cancer must be rooted out”, added the new president, before calling for “a broad process of dialogue between all the political forces represented or not in Congress”.
In Lima it is almost impossible to find an analyst who believes that Boluarte will finish his term. Although she immediately distanced herself from Castillo's self-coup, Boluarte came to power in the same presidential formula as a candidate for the Marxist party Peru Libre. Although she had already distanced herself from the party and from Castillo, the new president barely has any political experience or a sector of her own to lean on. A 60-year-old lawyer, Boluarte is a mid-ranking official who worked in the Civil Registry.
The lack of political experience has taken its toll on Castillo from day one and the best example is his grotesque exit from the presidency, which also showed the solitude in which this 53-year-old rural teacher and ultra-left trade unionist found himself, who gave the surprise in last year's elections by narrowly winning the far-right Keijo Fujimori, thanks in large part to the massive support of the disinherited Peruvians, the neglected peasant and indigenous population.
It is true that since the beginning of his term -or even before he was sworn in-, in July 2021, the establishment -opposition, the majority of Congress, businessmen or the media- bombarded Castillo by land, sea and air, no less true is that the leftist leader was unable to build the message of stability that the Peruvians required.
Government crises were constant during his year and a half in power, naming a total of 81 ministers, an incredible figure. Castillo soon broke with Peru Libre and its leader, the Marxist Vladimir Cerrón, losing the scant faithful parliamentary support he had: 17 deputies who on Wednesday did not hesitate to endorse the removal of the president after the self-coup attempt.
